Acura apologizes for discriminatory casting language

On Wednesday, an angry actor who wasn’t cast in this year’s Acura Super Bowl spot, featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, sent the casting call document for the commercial to TMZ, resulting in the upsetting revelation that the car company was looking for a “nice looking, friendly, not too dark” African-American to play the dealer.

Acura has now issued a statement apologizing if anyone was offended by the language. A spokesman for the company told CNN that the document came from an independent casting agency and that the TMZ story was the first Acura had heard of the “not too dark” request.

"We sought to cast an African-American in a prominent role in the commercial, and we made our selection based on the fact that he was the most talented actor,” Acura said in its statement. “We are taking appropriate measures to ensure that such language is not used again in association with any work performed on behalf of our brand."